Help for Southern Italy Trip in and out of Naples for 2 adults in 50s. (Apprx 12 nights)

My fave itinerary for this area is 1/3 Naples, 1/3 Amalfi Coast, and 1/3 an island (three to choose from). Car of no benefit in this area. I’d finish in Naples for ease of departure.
All depends on your interests of course.

Thanks Val any suggestions on where to stay on Amalfi Coast and what 3 islands are you referring to? I assume Capri, etc.

We will definitely do Naples for a few nights since that's where we will fly in and out of.

Thanks
Chris

Any village with ferry service, plus Atrani, since it is a short walk from Amalfi.
I’d peruse a book or web guide as all the villages have their fans. Do you want to stay put or do lots of day trips, all of that factors in. Reading through various trip reports and other itineraries may give you some ideas but it really depends on what you want to see and do.
My man trip planning tool is Google Maps these days.

Thanks Val. Yeah I normally prefer doing day trips so I'm not constantly packing and unpacking at different hotels. We could use Sorrento as a base for example and visit Pompei. Then maybe a few nights in Amalfi or Salerno, etc

Appreciate the advice

Chris

Hi Chris

We will be travelling to Southern Italy in a few weeks. We are flying into Rome taking the airport train to main train station then direct train to Salerno for 4 nights, ferry to Amalfi town for 4 nights and then end in Sorrento for 4 nights. We will be using ferries, trains and buses for everything except we have hired a driver to take us from Sorrento back to the Naples train station where we will take the train back to Rome for our last night. We are flying in and out of Rome because its a direct flight from our home airport. With spending 4 nights in each location we will have plenty of time and flexibility to see everything we want to see- Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum, Capri, Ravello and do some hiking. You'll see a lot of posts on this forum about where to base and the pros and cons.

Make your must list first, then you can sort of cross reference with the base options. For example you can also get to Pompeii from Salerno, it’s just a slightly longer walk from the train station. Once you know what you want to see you can sort out whether to see it from city or village, etc., if you know going in how much you like small versus large places, that helps. Since you are flying out of Naples it is a given you’ll be there at least one night usually (at the end is ideal) and so you can first determine how many days you would need there, then work backward. Good luck!

Hi Chris,
Below is our quirky and foto-dense TR from a few years ago. The AC coast was the focus. Over on Fodors, I go by 'zebec', hence the silly intro joke.
I am confident that in addition to chuckling and also enjoying the music, viewers continue to gain some useful info.
Good luck.
I am done. the end
https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/costa-damalfi-a-tr-1719110/

We did a pretty similar trip (Naples and Amalfi Coast area) and Sorrento actually worked really well as a base for a few days. It’s easy to get to from Naples, and from there you can do day trips to Positano, Amalfi, Capri, even Pompeii without moving hotels constantly.
For getting around, I’d skip the car for that part of the trip. Driving along the Amalfi Coast really is stressful and parking is a pain. We mostly used trains (Naples-Sorrento line) and ferries, which were way more enjoyable and scenic anyway. One of our favorite days was taking a boat out to Capri, and for planning ferry routes or timing, this helped us a lot.
If you have 12 days, you could combine Sorrento/Amalfi with somewhere like Puglia or Sicily for a totally different vibe.

Do you mean Southern Italy, or just Amalfi Gulf and Gulf of Naples? There’s a lot more to Southern Italy.

Thank you everyone for all the advice. We will probably focus just on the AC and Naples for this trip. Not the entire Southern Italy. I love idea of 3-4 nights in a few areas like Sorrento, Amalfi, Salerno and Naples since that's where we will fly into from Newark

Chris

Also take a look at the Cilento peninsula south of Salerno and Paestum. It is quiter than the AC but with many beautiful towns along the coast.

Thank you Becky

In late October we flew into Naples, took the airport bus to the ferry terminal and took the fast ferry to Procida for 2 nights. It's a lovely little island, smaller than both Ischia and Capri. You can walk the whole thing in a day. If you stayed a third night you could easily do a day trip to Ischia and/or Capri. When we traveled it was the week after the seasonal ferries ended but I think in season there is a ferry to Sorrento or maybe somewhere else on the AC. (Double check schedules, I could be wrong). In our case we took a ferry back to Naples, the bus to the central train station and a train to Salerno where we based ourselves for 4 nights. We did day trips to Amalfi town, Pompeii and Paestum. Salerno has a lot to offer and is a good base for day trips, but if you're really interested in spending time on the AC you might prefer to stay in one of the towns. In late October the regularly scheduled ferry was cancelled every day we were there which only left the bus (very crowded) and train to Vietri sul Mare. While we loved our time in Salerno and really enjoyed Pompeii and even more so Paestum, our day spent in Amalfi town was slightly underwhelming. Very crowded, we didn't have plan except to walk around so we actually kept walking through the main street and found a little path up a hill overlooking homes and lemon trees. Next time I will stay in one of the towns on the AC and look to walk some of the paths between the towns.
For this trip we didn't stay in Naples (after Salerno we went to Puglia for a week) but we've enjoyed Naples a few other times. Lots to see and do, and great food! Just be ready for a gritty urban feel, but that's part of it's charm.

Thank you sanomh

Much appreciate the insight

Chris